Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”

Watch the full film on Reel 13 right now:

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If you’ve visited Reel 13 before, you probably notice we’ve undergone some pretty big changes. The old site didn’t provide much opportunity for feedback or interaction with you, the audience. But that’s all changed.

Now, we’ve updated Reel 13 so you can discuss the films you watch with other users, share your thoughts on Reel 13 Classic and Indie films, and keep up with what’s going on in the NYC film community.

Our new blog will offer interviews with filmmakers – both known and obscure – along with dispatches written by filmmakers, critics, journalists, curators, and others deeply involved in New York City’s filmmaking community. The curator of Reel 13 shorts will post weekly introductions to the films she chooses for the competition, including insights about why she chose them, what she looks for in potential competitors, and thoughts about the winners and losers from the previous week’s competition.

Perhaps the biggest change you’ll notice on Reel 13 is our partnership with Vimeo, a fantastic community of people who make and share video. Going forward, filmmakers will submit their work to us by uploading their films via a Vimeo account. Short films selected for competition will play in Vimeo’s high quality, embeddable, linkable player. For you filmmakers, that means more eyeballs across the Internet will see your work.

In the past, once Reel 13 short films aired on television, you couldn’t view them on our site. Now we’ve added a short film library so you can watch the shorts you missed. We’re launching with 23 shorts, but we‘re currently uploading our entire back catalog – nearly 150 films.

The idea here is to create an online community of independent filmmakers – a place to share your films and discover the films made by your peers. We hope you’ll stick around and watch a few films, vote on this week’s shorts, and while you’re at it, submit a film!–Daniel Ross, Producer

This Saturday, Gene Kelly’s 1952 classic Singin’ in the Rain airs on Reel 13. We thought it would be interesting to sit down with a contemporary choreographer and pick his brain about Gene Kelly’s influence on American dance. So we caught up with Andy Blankenbuehler, who choreographed In the Heights, last year’s Tony Award-winner for Best Musical and Best Choreography. Andy is currently choreographing 9 to 5, which opens April 7th at the Marriott Marquis Theater.

Turns out Gene Kelly is one of Andy’s heroes. But is Kelly’s work relevant to the rest of us?